Quite a bit of progress made in October!
Weight
Target weight loss: 210lbs. Current weight: 232lbs. Weight
lost this month: -3lbs.
Thankfully, now, my weight seems to be going in the right direction.
This is helped by Kirsty trying to lose weight as well; we’re all being a bit
more careful what we’re eating, and eating more home-cooking than frozen food
or takeaways. It seems to be making a difference to both of us, so let’s see
how that continues into November.
Board Games
This month: 2. Total so far: 52
I’ve slowed down on the games this month, but last week I
went around my brother’s house, and we had a go with Skull; a nice game about
pushing your luck and betting your hand on a certain number of cards everybody
else has, and Dead of Winter, a Zombie Survival game – essentially The Walking
Dead in board game format, with the deliberation and planning to boot! It’s not
usual for me to play a game that heavy (I like them, but I have to read my audience
carefully and I don’t necessarily expect anybody else to like them as much!)
and it was a pleasure to get my teeth into something with a quite involved
gameplay loop.
Gigs
This month: 0. Total so far: 29
For the first time since I’ve started 40 for 40, I haven’t
played any gigs in a month! I’ve got at least one lined up for the next, so
that’s ok – but I’m going to try to play some more open mics before the end of next
month. I’ve also bought a small speaker through which a guitar and microphone could
be run, so I’m going to try to get some gigs around the area – I doubt many of
them will happen this side of January, though.
Video Games
This month: 3. Total so far: 17
For the first time since I bought a version of the game 28
years ago, I managed to get to the end of the original Doom! I played this on
the Xbox S and had a great time with it. I went with the middle difficulty: I
had tried on the 4th difficulty tier previously, but it was brutally
hard. I’d got quite a way into the game on it before, but that was on my laptop
where I was using keyboard and mouse controls; with a controller it’s a very
different matter. The game is a little dated now, but – and it’s not the first
time I’ve said it – all the bells and whistles in the world can’t be better
than good level design and a solid core gameplay loop.
Elsewhere, I played through Portal on the Xbox 360, which from
what I understand was almost an experimental, throwaway title Valve created
while working on their physics engines and became one of the most influential
puzzle games in contemporary gaming. Again, the design of the game is great,
and doesn’t outstay its welcome – the bathwater is thrown out without losing a
hair off the baby’s head.
I also got to the end Super Mario Bros – the Lost Levels, on
the Super Mario Allstars pack on the Nintendo Switch. Oddly, I remember beating
this when I was younger – though I can’t remember how, since some of those
levels were brutally difficult and I only managed it this time by taking advantage
of the re-wind function on the Switch!
So, I’ve been beating games at the pace I was always going
to have to do to have a hope of beating 40 of the things. It’s unlikely that I’ll
get that far, but I’ll do what I can.
Models Painted
This month: 15. Total so far: 70
I finally painted my Human Blood Bowl Team, in time for a whole bunch of people online to start complaining about how the imminent rules update is going to reduce the team’s effectiveness. I managed to get a game in with them as well, which was good fun! I also painted a unit of Tyranid Warriors, which means I’ve got a 3rd edition compatible HQ choice; I’m going to try to get a game of 3rd edition 40K in next month.
